Read These Books for a Better Garden

The time has come for me to come out of the closet – I’m a passionate bookworm. I love books. Not only reading them but just looking at them gives me a thrill.

I recently walked up to the great wall of bookshelves in my parents’ living room to see the collection of novels and albums that has been piled up over decades – and something new caught my attention: my mom’s gardening books.

This made me realize that I didn’t know much about gardening so I figured I ought to fill this green-themed gap in my knowledge.

For the past few days my love life has been more dramatic than most soap opera heroines can hope with. In fact, I’ve maintained an affair with two mature men, only to be seduced by an online romance.

The Temptations Of Mr Titchmarsh

One of these new lovers was Alan Titchmarsh – who had me when he showed me an episode of his show on ITV, The Alan Titchmarsh Show. I particularly adored his garden secrets inspired by 19th century British gardens, which I find to be one of strongest tourist magnets of the UK.

If you follow his tips, you can have your own labyrinth of bushes in your backyard! My favourite ones have to be carpet beds, which basically work like mosaics and are typical of Victorian gardens designed to reflect on the wisdom and wealth of the garden’s owner.

I found out from the show that many of the plants taken for granted today were rare novelties back then. For a splash of colour in your front yard, Alan suggested the firebush, originating from Chile. This shrub has really catchy, vivid orange-red flowers. What you need remember about it is that it requires a shady environment and it moderately tolerates drought.

The Debonair Monty Don

The other charming gentleman was Monty Don, who combined traveling and gardening in his show Around the World in 80 Gardens on BBC. He has been everywhere around the world and in his episodes he even includes historical trivia.

I was genuinely blown away by his visit to Norway. The island of Tromsø is the northern-most point of Norway and the sun never sets during summer and the island is covered by snow for 6 months a year.

The Arctic Alpine Botanic Gardens in Tromsø are breathtakingly beautiful. It’s reasonable to expect harsh weather and winter plants stuck to rocks, but during the summer it’s nothing like that. The fields of a variety of alpine species make you feel like in Eden, which is enhanced bright sunshine and mountains. Alpine flowers have long adapted to harsh weather conditions so many subspecies have evolved.

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